Chris Simmonds

Experience

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  Garden Organic

  Mar 2003 - Mar 2006

  Kitchen Assistant
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  DC Leisure Management Ltd

  Apr 2003 - Aug 2006

  Assistant Climbing Instructor

  Assisted with instruction and observation of young people and adults. Groups varied from climbing club, Rugby School and specialist groups from birthdays to nudists.

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  LE BISTROT PIERRE LIMITED

  Mar 2006 - Jan 2007

  Commis Chef
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  Kingswood Learning and Leisure Group Ltd

  Jan 2007 - Mar 2019

  Managing this 700 bed 100 acre centre with a team of up to 150; I am implementing a period of change to bring the centre in line with the rest of the business, primarily by modernising administrative practices, implementing a LEAN operation and bringing the team attitude and culture in line with the company values.The centre is also in need to of investment in the areas of buildings, catering facilities and a general update, these will be delivered through a mixture of capital and P&L projects. I have completed project "Clean Sweep" which was created to pick up the bigger cosmetic issues at the centre, starting at the entrance gates and working through the customer facing external areas. Works included fence repairs or removal, grounds maintenance, building enhancements etc.I am also consulting on our French operations, working with the centre's team and local service provider in order to mitigate risk and secure the business moving forward. Show less I drove a period of change at this 270 bed centre, modernising the business by implementing the service profit chain, creating a high performing and cohesive team in order to deliver exceptional customer experiences. This was achieved through focusing on people via a structured team 121, appraisal and meeting schedule, performance coaching and management, team reward and recognition and driving high standards.I rid the operation of many inefficient paper based practices and created a digital management information system; centralising key information and procedures with the aim of gaining efficiencies in time and costs. During my tenure I successfully delivered £250k of CAPEX investment in to security, health and safety, residential team accommodation, infrastructure upgrades and catering facility upgrades. We saw a 16% increase in revenue and an increase in repeat custom, a key objective of the business. The centre achieved its highest ever customer feedback scores (NPS) and was one of the top performing centres.My interaction with the wider business included hosting and delivering recruitment assessments and inductions and attending recruitment shows, as well as feeding ideas in to the way the business recruits and assesses.Upon my transfer from the centre in France, I continued to run the centre until I found and appointed my replacement, whom I then, inducted, trained and mentored, building on the foundations that I had created. Show less I held overall responsibility for a 200 bed outdoor education centre and the achievement of its KPIs and EBITDA set out by the company. The key attribute to this business is its exceptionally customer focused, high performance team and the strong product USPs, making it stand apart from the competition. Through the implementation of team and customer focus as well as LEAN operational stratergies I was able to deliver exceptional customer experiences, exceeding targets set out by the business.During my tenure here, further to the aforementioned, I trained and delivered all of the tour and activity products the centre offers as well as designing and launching new products as well as enhancing resources and safety procedures. I provided all of the customer service and administration aspects of the centre too.In addition to this; I successfully negotiated, in French, the site contract and service level agreement with the local government, managing and maintaining positive relationships with the Mayor and his team as well as all local stakeholders and service providers.I designed my own management information system which I shared with the wider business as well other key tools such as a unified hours recording and reporting tool. Show less My responsibilities were to manage the support teams on the 400 bed centre, these include; housekeeping, catering and maintenance. I was also appointed the role of compliance standards in areas such as fire safety, first aid as well as general health & safety, team welfare and accommodation.During this posting I implemented new information management systems to better organise all of the departments operating on the centre. This improved communication and transparency of task completion and workloads, this enhanced performance management across the board. It resulted in a huge reduction in paper printing and filing whilst also making client information easier and quicker to access, increasing efficiency when communicating externally as well.During my tenure, I continued to run the centre in France ensuring that the customer experience wasn't affected until my replacement could be found. Show less

  • General Manager

    Apr 2018 - Mar 2019

  • Centre General Manager

    Nov 2016 - Apr 2018

  • Centre Manager

    Jan 2015 - Nov 2016

  • Centre Operations Manager at West Runton

    Aug 2014 - Jan 2015

  • Chateau Operations Manager

    May 2012 - Aug 2014

  • Senior Instructor

    Jan 2012 - May 2012

  • Program Coordinator

    Jan 2010 - Jan 2012

  • Lead Instructor

    Jan 2008 - Jan 2010

  • Apprentice Instructor

    Jan 2007 - Dec 2007
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  ESS – Defence, Government Services, Offshore and Remote

  Apr 2019 - now

  General Manager

  Management of branded and unbranded CRL and soft facility services. Specific focus areas of enhancing people culture and team engagement through implementation of the service profit chain.Delivering operational and financial efficiencies by embedding LEAN management strategies.